Edinburgh Arts: Festival diary: <i>Graveyard music</i>

Festival diary: Graveyard music

Weird and delighful by turns, this concert (part of a series, now over) was subtitled Off with her head and included music by Anne Boleyn and Carissimi's Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots (a piece which made her out to be a right drama queen). It barely lasted 45 minutes but never outstayed its welcome, the forces required varying with each piece. Only the translation of the texts displayed on a screen behind the performers brought a wrong note, a certain naffness arising from their superimposition on images of a graveyard.

An anonymous passacaglia brought the concert to an amusing conclusion, the three singers (soprano, mezzo and baritone in various combinations) informing the audience that we're all to die anyway, punctuated with various incongrous quotations - the Flower duet from Lakmé among them. (I'm tempted to suggest its composer, probably one of the ensemble, felt suitably embarassed about putting his/her name to the piece.) A tad peculiar, but nothing if not a talking point on which to end a thought-provoking concert.

(26th August 2005)

Comments:

Oooh, are you familiar with the final cabaletta ("Quel sangue versato") from Donizetti's Roberto Devereux? It's one of my favorite pieces: Queen Elizabeth descending into madness after Robert's execution. The best two recordings I've heard -- both wildly different -- are Edita Gruberova (it may be her most full-on diva singing ever) and Beverly Sills.

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